Author: James McNally

The Power of the Mixtape

In 1996, I made a mixtape for a young guy I knew at my church. He was really into music; in fact, he was a musician. Eight years later, Jason is fronting a band called China Jean. My friend Jay and I went to see them playing at the Horseshoe Tavern last night. Jason had told Jay quite recently that my mixtape had influenced his tastes, so if China Jean finds any measure of success, I’ll be quite gratified.

Digging around, I found a track listing of the tape I made for him. It amazes me that every single band is from the UK or Ireland. I think I’m much less of an Anglophile these days. I also included some great dialogue bits from the animated series “The Tick” and the Coen brothers’ film “Raising Arizona.”

Side A

Suede – Stay Together
Morrissey – My Love Life
PJ Harvey – Hardly Wait
The The – I’ve Been Waiting for Tomorrow
Elastica – Smile
My Bloody Valentine – Soon
Sleeper – Bedhead
Pulp – Babies
The Wedding Present – Blue Eyes
Billy Bragg – The Saturday Boy
The Smiths – What Difference Does It Make?
The Tick – A Psychic Journey of Self-Discovery
Raising Arizona – Diapers and Balloons

Side B

Joy Division – Disorder
Bauhaus – Ziggy Stardust
PJ Harvey – Man Size
The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
Elvis Costello – Lipstick Vogue
The Police – Roxanne
Elastica – Blue
The Waterboys – The Big Music
The Cranberries – I Can’t Be With You
The Wedding Present – Give My Love to Kevin
Morrissey – Interesting Drug
Sinead O’Connor – Jerusalem
Billy Bragg – A New England
Mike Scott – What Do You Want Me to Do?
Depeche Mode – Black Celebration

Screened

I’ve added recently watched films to the sidebar along with ratings. The ratings are out of 5, with a dimmer circle denoting ½. This is so it correlates with my IMDB ratings, which are out of ten. The idea has been shamelessly stolen from Robot Johnny. I hope you don’t mind, John. Please don’t send The Iron Giant over again…

Songs, Those Crazy Songs

Ok, you’ve probably already seen this list from McSweeney’s, entitled Possible Follow-Up Songs for One-Hit Wonders (if not, go and then come back, mmkay?).

But I’ve been thinking of another sort of list. Not-Quite-Actual Songs That Should Have Been on the Soundtracks of Actual Films. This actually happened, when Albert Brooks convinced Simon and Garfunkel to change the lyrics to “Mrs. Robinson” for inclusion in his film, Mother (1996). Here’s a start:

iPod: “Security Risk”

The UK Ministry of Defence has declared the iPod a security risk, due to its high storage capacity and ability to transfer data quickly.

The story also states that numerous corporations are considering banning the devices from the workplace due to “security concerns.” Am I the only one who thinks this is completely wrong-headed? What’s next? Removing the photocopiers and scanners? Banning cellphones with built-in cameras?

Security is not about technology. It’s about having a system of trust with your employees. Banning their music players will only erode that trust further, in my opinion.

Enough Already!

After another comment spam barrage (1,800 this morning!!), I think it’s time to do the upgrade to Movable Type 3.0. I’m a little apprehensive, but I really don’t have several hours to spend deleting this crap every time. Has anyone got any experience with MT3 yet? Will it kill this comment spam problem?